Hard Times Hit Patriotic Expressions, Flag Businesses Say

TAMPA - Wade Osborne stopped into Head's Flags in South Tampa today to replace the faded American flag hanging outside his house in Beach Park.

"How's business?" Osborne, a commercial photographer, asked.

Unfortunately, it's nothing to celebrate, local flag retailers say. The nation's blues over high gas prices, job losses and the troubled economy seem to be keeping shoppers away, said Tony Clayton, who operates Head's Flags with his grandfather, Floyd Head.

"We're doing OK, but not as good as previous years, that's for sure," Clayton, 36, told another visitor. "When you're putting a hundred dollars in your gas tank, it makes people conservative."

Clayton and Head estimate that the number of walk-in retail customers at their store at 3815 Henderson Blvd. has dropped by about half compared with last year.

Across Tampa Bay, at All American Flag and Pennant in Pinellas Park, office manager Shannon Winks said she has noticed a decline in over-the-counter flag sales, too.

"It's probably the lowest I've seen it since I've been here," said Winks, who has worked for the business since 2002. "We haven't raised our prices. If anything, I've tried to give people deals."

Both flag stores say the average walk-in customer spends about $15 to $50 on a flag about 2 feet by 3 feet to 4 feet by 6 feet for the house. People also have purchased stick flags for lawns and parties, bunting and historical flags styled after the one Betsy Ross made in 1776. Etiquette dictates a flag be repaired or replaced when it becomes tattered or faded.

Businesses such as churches are still renting bunting and other flags for $8 apiece, but others have cut back, Clayton said. For instance, real-estate agents typically have bought flags in bulk to stick in the yards of houses for sale. With the crisis in the housing market, "nobody's buying a hundred at a time," he said.

Winks said she also has noticed fewer car lots buying American flags.

To Head, who started his family business in 1984, the fewer sales are part of other cutbacks Americans are making in brand-name groceries and clothing. Selling flags is "not a bread-and-milk business. It's maybe a once-a-year purchase," said Head, 81.

Winks, who turns 31 July 4, said it saddens her to see people economize by not buying a flag.

"Here we are in America, and we really need to be patriotic, especially in a time of war," she said. "The Fourth is when we shine."

Curious about how to display your flag? Here are some tips on proper flag etiquette:

www.allamericanflagandpennant.com/etiquette.html.